California Roadtrip - Las Vegas!

Soon after leaving the Grand Canyon, in Tusayan, we spotted two elk on the side of the road.

 It took us just under five hours to drive to Las Vegas, passing mainly through desert country with the unique rocky outcrops.  The ground was covered sparsely with scrub vegetation, but I noticed as we approached the mountains that surround Las Vegas, there was lots of cactus, giving the surrounds a sense real cowboy country!

The deserts of New Mexico

Cactus now appearing, as well as another distant mountain range..

 The mountains were surprising, they seemed to rise suddenly.  They were covered generously again with pines and I was quick enough to snap the beautiful Lake Mead as we passed by (although a poor shot!)  We also had a great glimpse of the Hoover Dam and thought we would come back and take a tour of it, but other things took priority! The famous Hoover Dam is only about 30 miles outside of Las Vegas.  As we passed the State Line from Arizona to Nevada we were soon greeted by a couple of huge casinos!!  In the middle of seemingly nowhere! 

The Mountains, getting close to the Nevada State line

By passing Lake Mead and the famous Hoover Dam
 (that gets it's water supply mainly from the Colorado Mtns)

Las Vegas was a big surprise.  In my mind, I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but the city is in a large valley surrounded by mountains that are large but not imposing and are bare. Completely bare of any kind of foliage.  The city itself is very modern and clean with wide streets, many of which are lined with towering palm trees.  It's like a huge oasis in the middle of the desert! We found it extremely easy to find our way around.  We arrived Saturday evening, to extreme, dry heat that reminded us all immediately of Adelaide!!  It felt so much like home!

We stayed the first night at La Quinta which was exactly over the road from the International Airport.  Adjacent, on the other side of the Airport lay the famous Las Vegas Strip.  After settling in, we went looking for the 'Town Center' which was a large block of shopping, a bit like a mall, but includes a big square of several streets.  We made a wrong turn and actually found ourselves driving down the Strip.  By this time, it was dusk and the lights were all on.  What a sight!  So bright!  Even the McDonald's sign had sparkles in it!! (I had someone tell me, that Vegas puts out more energy than the whole of California with it's 30 million people.) We were amazed and entranced at the same time! The girls took photos from the car and even stood through the skylight to take pics!!  That was fun!

First glimpse of the Strip at night

Chani making fun of the pokies in the Seven Eleven

 Well, we did find the Town Center and again was very impressed.  It is so lovely to shop at, the atmosphere reminded me of Lygon St in Melbourne or The Parade in Norwood, very lively and fun! 

Sarah...

...and Chani at the Town Center, Las Vegas

"Oooo So juicy!"

However, after the events of the day, keeping in mind the first half of it was treking some of the Grand Canyon, we were pretty tired so headed back to the motel and enjoyed a respite from travelling..  On the way, we found a supermarket and bought some supplies for Sunday. Would you believe it?  There was a large space set up near the checkouts with several pokie machines!  Only in Las Vegas!
Once back at the motel, the girls had a swim in the pool and watched planes land in the night sky while they cooled off.  Nice!

Tom meanwhile, was out on a date!!  Yes, this is part of the reason our time at the Grand Canyon was limited to half a day.  He had already arranged to meet up with 'Chloe' who happens to be Devin Strobelt's cousin!!  Yes, that's my Tom.  Grass doesn't ever grow under his feet!!  With Chloe as a tour guide, he explored a bit more of Las Vegas than the rest of us had energy for!!

Sunday, 17 July 2011

There is such wisdom in 'the seventh day, thou shalt rest from thy labours'.  Thank goodness for Sunday, wereby we can slow the pace down and just rest and regain some energy.  We have travelled a fair distance up to this point and it's so nice to stop and relax.  We all slept in, took leisurely showers and found an afternoon meeting to attend.  The Sunset Ward took in the boundaries of the motel!! So, that was cool, it was nice and close.  We enjoyed the meetings and love that it doesn't matter where you go in the world, the familiar hymns and meetings makes you feel so at home.  The people were friendly and Tom & Sarah quickly made some contacts!! 

After dinner, we drove out to find the Temple.  It is set at the edge of the city with a large mountain as a backdrop!  It has several huge spires and is itself huge and very beautiful.  The evening was still very hot, but the lush grounds invite you to linger and enjoy the Temple.  We took lots of photos and stayed until dusk.  What a wonderful spirit there is on Temple grounds.  So peaceful.. We are glad we took the time to see it.

The mountain is a great backdrop

The Temple is huge, and it's spires can be seen from across the city.

Well, due to the contacts made that day at church, Tom, Sarah & Chani went off for the evening and returned late but happy.  More friends for FaceBook!!

Monday 18th July 2011

In the morning, we took advantage of a later checkout then ventured out into the heat and took Tom to the Town Center to have a look.  It's such a nice place to shop, but I still like it best at night. We eventually dropped Tom off on Las Vegas Blvd where he met up with some new friends, and we dropped the girls at another ronde-vou where they met up with girls from the night before.  They all spent the afternoon swimming! So there you have it, a strange city and we still play taxi to our children's social lives!!  By this point we were able to check into the Excalibur Hotel which is at one end of the strip.  It is a bit dated but looks just like a fairy castle from the outside.  We booked into Tower1 and were on the top floor (just like Rapunzel!)  It was fun to stay right on the Strip, and convenient most of all, however the hotels are all casinos, and stale smoke permeates throughout the hotel.  Still, Rick & I enjoyed a long walk exploring what was around us, then finally found some dinner as the kids made it back. 

The Excalibur:  The Fairy Castle we stayed in.



Haha!  Las Vegas or New York!

 We spent the night walking down the strip and back.  It's really lengthy and I have to say, alot classier than I imagined. There are some great shows to see such as Celine Dion at Caesar's Palace, Donny & Marie at Flamingos, The Lion King, Cirque deSolei, David Copperfield, Australia's Human Nature and more.  Shopping on the Strip is also upper class with all the big brand names present.  There is obviously a lot of money in Vegas!  The downside was the people handing out 'girlie' cards, particularly targeting the males in the passing crowds.  It didn't take long to notice they were mostly small Mexican people including women.  But the end of the night I just felt like slapping one of these women and saying something like, "have you no self respect?  Do you know what you're doing?"  I'm afraid it was starting to bring out the ire in me!! Besides that, I still think the highlight of Las Vegas Blvd aka The Strip are the lighted fountains in front of the Bellagio.

The view from our window showing the airport so close to the Strip.

Our Castle..

Caesar's Palace

Caesar's Palac again.. it's huge, just goes on and on..  Very classy inside.

The Statue of Liberty made out of jelly beans!

Would love to have seen this show! Donny & Marie at the Flamingo

Eiffel Tower opposite the Bellagio

The fountains at the Bellagio just starting..

The fountains go off every fifteen minutes and are different each time, all set to music.  Rick & I watched three sets.  They were just magnificent.  I managed to record two, so watch and enjoy!!

"Being an American.." (I only got part of this, missed the biggies)

"Viva Las Vegas!"

We consequently all spent a late night.  A very hot one, amongst a sea of people.  This was when we were very glad we had accomodation so close.  I think we all had very sore feet!!

The next morning we headed out of Las Vegas onto the next leg of our journeyings.  I was glad to have seen Vegas, but it's a very hot place, hot days and hot nights with no cool change for the entire summer!! When we left at about 10am it was 109F.  Next, California, here we come!!